Therese Schroeder-Sheker

Therese Schroeder-ShekerAcademic dean of the School of Music-Thanatology at St. Patricks Hospital in Missoula, Montana
*Concert and Recording Artist
*Composer
*Educator
*Clinician
*Benedictine Oblate (religion)

Music-Thanatology is a highly skilled musician playing live music to ease the difficulty of dying of the person before them. The specific instruments Therese Schroeder-Sheker uses and teaches are voice and harp.

The music-thanatologists works with those who are actively dying (24–48 hours) or have received a terminal diagnosis, usually approximating six months. The goal of music-thanatology and prescriptive music deliveries is at least fourfold: relief of acute and chronic physiological pain and/or spiritual or interior suffering; the creation of the supportive conditions which can facilitate reconciliation and meaning in the face of mortality and suffering; a blessed or peaceful or conscious death which is returned back into the fullness of life and the whole human life cycle; the transformation of the personal, familial, medical, cultural, and community experiences of death.

Honors

Therese Schroeder-Sheker was honored by the New York Open Center [http://www.opencenter.org/] in 1997 for her "Music Thanatology"

Cassette, CD and Video

Celebrant: The Historical Harp, cassette tape, harpist and sopranoTherese Schroeder-Sheker, Lady Reason Records. (1984)

The Queen's Minstrel, cassette tape from Windham Hill. (1987)

Rosa Mystica, CD from Celestial Harmonies (1989)

In Dulci Jubilo (Sweet Joy), CD from Celestial Harmonies (1991)

Inside the Miracle: Enduring Illness, Approaching Wholeness, text by Mark Nepo, music by Therese Schroeder-Sheker, Parabola AudioTapes, two cassette tapes. (1996)

The Geography of the Soul, CD from Sapientia Music anthology (1998)

(guest artist performance on) Brightest Morning: Christmas Music of Peace and Tranquility,CD from ABC Classic FM (2000)

Therese Schroeder-Sheker: Chalice of Repose: A Contemplative Musician's Approach to Death and Dying. VHS NTSC Video format. 1997 Palm Springs International Film Festival first place award.

Books and sheet music

(Book) A Medieval Latin Death Ritual: The Monastic Customaries of Bernard and Ulrich of Cluny, (Chalice of Repose Project Studies in Music-Thanatology Volume I), text by Fred Paxton, preface by Therese Schroeder-Sheker, St. Dunstan's Press, 1993.

(Book) Liturgy and Anthropology: A Monastic Death Ritual of the Eleventh Century, (Chalice of Repose Project Studies in Music-Thanatology, Volume II), Frederick Paxton, preface Therese Schroeder-Sheker, St. Dunstan's Press, 1993.

(sheet music) Hymn to the Angels/Custodes Hominum for Arvo Pärt (The Chalice of Repose Project Schola Cantorum Songs of the Threshold Series Volume I, #1) SAB or ATB. Motet setting of a chant from the Liber Usualis by Therese Schroeder-Sheker for St. Dunstan's Press, 1994.

(sheet music) If You Seem To Be Forgotten: (Chalice of Repose Project Schola Cantorum Series Volume 1, #3: Songs of the Threshold Series) SSSAB or SSAAB. Music by Therese Schroeder-Sheker, text by Emily Dickinson, St. Dunstan's Press, 1995.

(Book) So That You May Be One, from the visions of Joa Bolendas, with essays by John Hill, Robert Sardello and Therese Schroeder-Sheker, Lindisfarne Books, 425 pages, 1997.(lengthy essay by Therese Schroeder-Sheker entitled "I Heard the Call of the Seraph," about the spiritual and theological nature of listening and obeying.)

(Book) Alive in God's World: Human Life on Earth and in Heaven as Described in the Visions of Joa Bolendas, forward by Therese Schroeder-Sheker, introduction by John Hill, Lindisfarne Books, 2001.

(Book) Transitus: A Blessed Death in the Modern World (ships heavier, so there is an extra shipping charge on this item)A music-thanatology monograph by Therese Schroeder-Sheker,St. Dunstan's Press, 2001.

Comprehensive Bibliography & Discography

1978–1979 – Radio KVOD Brings Music from the Middle Ages: Recordings of 21 programs of medieval and renaissance music, scored, arranged, realized by TSS, twice weekly broadcasts and musicological program notes. Totals eight hours of new recordings of previously unrecorded music.

1980 – Music from the Court of Burgundy – Carnegie Hall Debut – dozen cities on the tour. Program notes, musicology realizations, texts and translations.

1982–1984 – De Mano Archive Medieval Harp Series: four volumes (French, German, Italian, Spanish). De Mano Archives, Denver, Colorado.

1984 & 1985 – The Pilgrim’s Route: Paris to Santiago de Compostella. Program notes, texts and translations.

1985 – Historical Harp: Celebrant, LP record, cassettes, Lady Reason Records, Brattleboro, Vermont.

1986 – The Historical Harp, Public Television documentary film, Debra Unger, producer, National Endowment for the Arts funding.

1988 – “The Chalice of Repose: Music and Ritual in an Eleventh Century Monastic Approach to Death and Dying,” in Laughing Man, Volume 8, #1.

1988 – Winter Solstice II, CD recording, LP and cassette, guest artist, Windham Hill Artists, Windham Hill.

1988 – The Queen’s Minstrel, CD recording, LP and cassette, Windham Hill.

1989 – Sampler ’89, CD recording, LP and cassette, guest artist, Windham Hill Artists, Windham Hill Records.

1989 – “The Use of Plucked Stringed Instruments in Medieval Christian Mysticism,” in Mystics Quarterly, Volume XV, #3, University of Iowa, Iowa City).

1989 – Legends, television film, Scott Alan Smith producer-composer, won an Emmy for composition, Therese Schroeder-Sheker guest artist music performance.

1990 – The Carmelites: Sharing Their Spirit, video documentary of Carmelites in America, producer Bill Hellams, music courtesy of Windham Hill.

1990 – “Through the Woods of Broceliande: Musicology and the Contemplative Journey,” in Initiations, Volume III. Published in French.

1990 – Women of Spirit, five one-hour radio documentaries, (Melania, Radegund, Hildegard, Catherine of Sienna, Julian of Norwich) producer Jean Feraca for Wisconsin Public Radio, TSS provided and produced the music for these documentaries. Also contributed to the accompanying text and program guide.

1990 – “The Body of the Harp is Jesu: Music, Alchemy and Inner-Emptiness in Medieval Monatsicism, “ in Prana, Volume 58, Winter 1989–1990. This article is published in Dutch.

1990 – Rosa Mystica, CD recording, cassette, Celestial Harmonies, Tucson, Arizona and Munich, Germany.

1991 – Peace Rose Concert, television production, Angel Romero, producer, Madrid, Spain.

1991 – The Chalice of Repose at St. Thomas, television video documentary, Jim Phelan Productions, Denver, Colorado.

1991 – “Silence, Inner-Emptiness and the Call of the Seraphim,” in Initiations, Volume VI, Spring. Published in French.

1991 – “The Chalice of Repose Project: A Music-Thanatology Initiative.” Caduceus, Issue 14, London

1991 – Of Sound Mind and Body: Music and Vibrational Healing, video documentary, guest artist with 14 artists and clinicians, produced by Jeff Volk of MACROmedia, Epping, New Hampshire.

1991 – In Dulci Jubilo, CD recording, cassette, Celestial Harmonies, Tucson, Arizona and Munich, Germany.

1992 – “Musical-sacramental-midwifery: the use of music in death and dying,” in Entrée, Volume 9, Issue 4. Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, Augsburg Fortress.

1992 – Bill Douglas: Everywhere – Live Studio Duets, CD recording, cassette, guest artist, Hearts of Space and Sonifolk (San Francisco and Madrid).

1992 – “Musical-Sacramental-Midwifery,” in Don Campbell, (editor of the anthology) Music and Miracles, Quest Books.

1993 – “Introduction” to Fred Paxton’s A Medieval Latin Death Ritual: The Monastic Customaries of Bernard and Ulrich of Cluny, St. Dunstan’s Press.

1993 – “Introduction” to Liturgy and Anthropology, by Fred Paxton, St. Dunstan’s Press.

1993 – Bill Douglas: Kaleidoscope, CD recording, guest artist, Hearts of Space, San Francisco.

1993 – “Music for the Dying: The New Field of Music-Thanatology,” in Advances, Journal of Mind/Body Health, Volume 9, Number 1, John E. Fetzer Institute.

1993 – “The Alchemical Harp of Mechtild of Hackeborn,” in Alexandria 2, Journal of the Western Cosmological Traditions, Phanes Press.

1994 – Chalice of Repose Project Clinical Handbook, 1st edition. For music-thanatology teachers and student interns. St. Dunstan’s Press.

1994 – Chalice Ensemble Book, revised, 2nd edition. Thirty-two pieces of chamber music edited for harps. St. Dunstan’s Press.

1994 – “Music for the Dying, “ in Noetic Sciences Review, Number 31

1994 – “The Alchemical Harp of Mechtild of Hackeborn,” in On Pilgr

1994 – Hymn to the Angels, for Arvo Pärt, text anonymous Liber Usualis, setting into a motet, music Therese Schroeder-Sheker, performing edition, choral music: SAB, St. Dunstan’s Press.

1994 – “Music for the Dying,” in Caduceus, Issue 23, London.

1994 – In Search of Angels, CD recording, guest artist, BMG-Windham Hill, Stanford, California.

1994 – “The Material Half of the Angel: Silence Narratives in the Mystical Experience of the Loss of Freedom,” in Robert Sardello, editor of anthology, The Angels, Dallas Institute Publications.

1994 – “Music for the Dying: A Personal Account of the New Field of Music-Thanatology – History, Theories, and Clinical Narratives,” in Journal of Holistic Nursing, Volume 12, No. 1, Sage Periodicals Press.

1995 – If You Seem to Be Forgotten, text Emily Dickinson, music Therese Schroeder-Sheker, performing edition, choral music: SSATB, St. Dunstan’s Press.

1995 – The Chalice of Repose Project, television documentary for CNN News, producer Dan Rutz.

1996 – Chalice of Repose Project Clinical Handbook, revised, 2nd edition. For music-thanatology teachers and student interns. St. Dunstan’s Press.

1996 – Chalice Ensemble Book, revised, 3th edition. Thirty-five pieces of chamber music edited for harps. St. Dunstan’s Press.

1996 – Sisters: Women’s Music, CD recording, guest artist, Celestial Harmonies in Tucson, Arizona.

1996 – “Death and the Chalice of Repose Project: Prescriptive Music and the Art of Dying,” in Lapis: Inner Meaning and Contemporary Life, Volume 2, New York Open Center Publications.

1996 – Inside the Miracle: Enduring Illness, Approaching Wholeness, Mark Nepo and Therese Schroeder-Sheker, Parabola Audio Library.

1996 – The Gift: the Chalice of Repose Project, Christopher Award-winning television documentary for ABC Nightline with Ted Koppel, producer Laura Palmer.

1996 – Therese Schroeder-Sheker: Music and the Art of Dying, PBS television broadcast for Thinking Allowed, producer, Dr. Jeffrey Mishlove.

1997 – Therese Schroeder-Sheker and The Chalice of Repose: A Contemplative Musician’s Approach to Death and Dying, a Fetzer-funded documentary video and 19 page program guide, producers Paul & Jennifer Kaufman, Sounds True. Winner - 1st place video award Palm Springs International Film Festival 1997.

1997 – “I Heard the Call of the Seraph: Working with the Visionlieder of Joa Bolendas,” in Joa Bolendas’ So That You May Be One, Lindisfarne Books.

1998 – Chalice of Repose Project Clinical Handbook, revised, 3th edition. For music-thanatology teachers and student interns. St. Dunstan’s Press.

1998 – Chalice Ensemble Book, revised, 4th edition. Thirty-five pieces of chamber music edited for harps. St. Dunstan’s Press.

1998 – “Shaping a Sanctuary with Sound: Music-Thanatology and the Care of the Dying,” Pastoral Music, Volume 22:3; National Association of Pastoral Musicians.

1998 – Heart Strings: Chalice of Repose Project, television documentary for NBC Dateline with Jane Pauley and Stone Phillips.

1998 – The Geography of the Soul, CD recording and 28 page booklet, Sapientia Music. 1998.

1999 – “The Symbolism of the Chalice in the Chalice of Repose Project,” a meditative essay, School of Spiritual Psychology. (To be made available for Vox Clamantis Monograph’s in 2005, including 40 color plates).

2000 – “Sacred Sensing – Mystical Theology and the Unicorn Tapestries.” meditative essay for School of Spiritual Psychology. (To be made available for Vox Clamantis Monograph’s soon, includes the color plates).

2000 – Chalice of Repose Project Clinical Handbook, revised, 4th edition. For music-thanatology teachers and student interns. St. Dunstan’s Press.

2000 – Chalice Ensemble Book, revised, 5th edition. Forty pieces of chamber music edited for harps. St. Dunstan’s Press.

2000 – Brightest Morning, CD recording released by ABC Classic FM, featuring John Rutter, the Choir of King's College - Cambridge, Sir Neville Marriner, the Academy and Chorus of St. Martin-in-the-Fields. Therese Schroeder-Sheker guest artist performance.

2000 – “Under the Blue Dome of Heaven,” Chalice Philharmonia, Chalice of Repose Project. (Later republished by the School of Spiritual Psychology).

2001 – The Chalice of Repose Project: Changing the Way We Live and Die, Soule Family Foundation funded publication for Chalice of Repose Project, Missoula, Mt.

2001 – “Music-Thanatology and the Spiritual Care of the Dying,” Interview with Bonnie Horrigan in Alternative Therapies, Volume 7, Number 1. InnoVision Communication.

2001 – “Steered by Grace: The Mystical Life of Joa Bolendas,” in Joa Bolendas’ Alive in God’s World, Lindisfarne Books.

2002 – “The Last Note: How Music Wakens and Heals,” in Parabola, Vol. 27, No. 2.

2002 – Transitus: A Blessed Death in the Modern World, a Fetzer-funded music-thanatology monograph published by St. Dunstan’s Press.

2003 – “Music-Thanatology and Spiritual Care of the Dying” in Voices of Integrative Medicine, edited by Bonnie Horrigan for Churchill Livingstone and Elsevier Science.

2003 – “Prescription for a Blessed Death” artist interview by Ann Carey for Our Sunday Visitor, May 25, 2003.

2003 – Guest artist performance on CD for Michael Verdick’s Healing Rhythms.

2003 – "The Mystery of Mid-Winter Light" in Zōē, Volume 1, No.2. December, 2003.

2004 – "Choosing Beauty: The Mystical Path of Increasing Invisibility" in Volume 5, Summer 2004 issue of Sophia, Journal of the School of Spiritual Psychology, founded by Robert Sardello.

2004 – "A Star Named Devotion" in Zōē, Volume 1, No. 3. February 2004.

2004 – "Praying with the Psalms: Psalm 70 and the Spirituality of Loss" in Zōē, Volume 1, No. 3. February 2004.

2004 – "Choosing Beauty: the Mystical Path and the Imago Dei" in Zōē, Volume 1, No. 4, Summer, 2004. (Please note that this article is different from the Choosing Beauty article in Sophia below).

2004 – "Orpheus and the Eternal: Faithfulness, Vision & Fine-Tuning" in Spring: A Journal of Archetype and Culture # 71 - ORPHEUS. September, 2004.

2004 – "Orpheus and the Eternal: Faithfulness, Vision & Fine-Tuning" in Zōē, Volume 1, No. 5-6, September, 2004, double issue.

2005 – “Contemplative Musicianship and Liminality” for the Pleroma Press Contemplative Musicianship Series, Volume 1 of 10.

2005 – “The Spirituality of the Voice” for the Pleroma Press Contemplative Musicianship Series, Volume 2 of 10.

2005 – “The Spirituality of Strings, Winds, Reeds, Brass and Percussion” for the Pleroma Press Contemplative Musicianship Series, Volume 3 of 10.

2005 – “The Nature of Music – New Studies in Melody, Harmony and Rhythm” for Pleroma Press Contemplative Musicianship Series, Volume 4 of 10.

2005 – “The Uses of Music in Medicine: Legacies of Antiquity,” in the Pleroma Press Contemplative Musicianship Series, Volume 5 of 10.

2005 – “The Uses of Music in Medicine: Medieval and Renaissance Legacies,” for the Pleroma Press Contemplative Musicianship Series, Volume 6 of 10.

2005 – “The Mystery of Silence: A Theological Phenomenology,” for the Pleroma Press Contemplative Musicianship Series, Volume 7 of 10.

2005 – “The Uses of Music in Medicine: Asclepius, the Celts, Joa Bolendas,” for the Pleroma Press Contemplative Musicianship Series, Volume 8 of 10.

2005 – “The Human Countenance,” for the Pleroma Press Contemplative Musicianship Series, Volume 9 of 10.

2005 – “Integration and Healing: Grief, Memory, Sleep, Joy,” for the Pleroma Press Contemplative Musicianship Series, Volume 10 of 10.

2005 – "Prescriptive Music: Sounding Our Transitions," article in the "Transitus" column of Explore: the Journal of Science and Healing, (Elsevier Science) Volume 1, Number 1, January, 2005.

2005 – "Totally Disarmed: The Choir of Witnessing," article in the "Transitus" column of Explore: the Journal of Science and Healing, (Elsevier Science) Volume 1, Number 5, September, 2005.

2006 – "Making Connections: Helping Providers Take the Next Step," article in the "Transitus" column of Explore: the Journal of Science and Healing, (Elsevier Science) Volume 2, Number 1, January, 2006.

2006 – "Appointment with a Wise Old Dog: Dream Images in a Time of Crisis," review in the "Transitus" column of Explore: the Journal of Science and Healing, (Elsevier Science) Volume 2, Number 1 , January, 2006.

2006 – "Narrative Medicine and Unresolved, End-of-Life Longing," article in the "Transitus" column of Explore: the Journal of Science and Healing, (Elsevier Science) Volume 2, Number 2 , March, 2006.

2006 – “The Principles of Prescriptive Music: Foundations, Volume 1, ” for the Pleroma Press Music-Thanatology Series, Volume 1 of 10.

2006 – "The Vox Feminae: Choosing and Being as Christian Form and Praxis," chapter in Practicing Catholic: Ritual, Body and Contestation in Catholic Faith, an anthology edited by Bruce Morrill, Joanna Ziegler and Susan Rodgers, for Palgrave Macmillan, 2006.

2006 – “The Principles of Prescriptive Music: Physiological Pain & Spiritual Suffering, Volume 2, ” for the Pleroma Press Music-Thanatology Series, Volume 2 of 10.

2006 – “The Principles of Prescriptive Music: Synchronization & Entrainment, Volume 3, ” for the Pleroma Press Music-Thanatology Series, Volume 3 of 10.

2006 – “The Principles of Prescriptive Music: Vital Signs Clinic and Evidence Based Medicine, Volume 4,” for the Pleroma Press Music-Thanatology Series, Volume 4 of 10.

2006 – “The Principles of Prescriptive Music: Imaginative Thinking & The Potentiating Clinician – Compensatory, Homeopathic and Alchemical Deliveries, Volume 5” for the Pleroma Press Music-Thanatology Series, Volume 5 of 10.

2007 – “The Principles of Prescriptive Music: Score as Medical Glyph, Volume 6” for the Pleroma Press Music-Thanatology Series, Volume 6 of 10.

2007 – “The Principles of Prescriptive Music: The Imagination of the Heart, Volume 7,” the Pleroma Press Music-Thanatology Series, Volume 7 of 10.

2007 – "Letting Go: The Paradox of Cultural Competence in End-of-Life Care," article in the "Transitus" column of Explore: the Journal of Science and Healing, (Elsevier Science) Volume 3, Number 2 , March 2007.

2007 – Therese Schroeder-Sheker and The Chalice of Repose Project: A Contemplative Musician's Approach to Death and Dying, DVD, new edition for Pleroma Press, May 2007 release.

External links

* [http://www.chaliceofrepose.org/index.htm The Chalice of Repose Project, Inc. The Voice of Music-Thanatology ]
* [http://www.chaliceofrepose.org/giftshop.htm The Chalice of Repose Secure Online Gift Shop & Order Center ]
* [http://www.chaliceofrepose.org/music-thanatology.htm What is Music-Thanatology? ]